Benoy K Behl In the heart of the great Himalayas is a verdant valley, which has been described by poets and emperors as Paradise. Over the centuries, this beautiful vale has seen the blossoming of many of the most beautiful flowers of the philosophy of man. Kashmir has always been a renowned centre of Hindu […]Read More
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Benoy K Behl According to ancient texts, the deity in the sanctum of the temple is depicted closest to its all-pervasive nature. It is a manifestation of the ultimate truth. There also developed a great tradition of utsava murtis or ‘festival images’. The deity, in many manifestations of human form, comes out to the streets […]Read More
Benoy K Behl A most remarkable Indian tradition of the early period is that the focus of life and society was on the eternal themes and not on human personalities, which were, after all, ephemeral. In the 3rd century BCE, even the rulers did not inscribe their names upon their messages on monuments. Almost all […]Read More
Team L&M A film Monasteries of Rinchen Zangpo that provides the first comprehensive view of, covering the monasteries of Tibet, Ladakh, Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, is being screened at India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi on August 20 at 6pm. The film screening is a part of IHC series Glimpses of Culture. Produced for Doordarshan by […]Read More
Team L&M In about 850 AD, a Chola chieftain named Vijayalaya took control of Thanjavur and ushered in an era of unsurpassed prosperity and grandeur in Tamil Nadu. The most beautiful temples of South India were made under the rule of the Cholas. At Narthamalai, located on top of a hill, amidst the great beauty […]Read More
Team L&M Tucked away between lush green hills of North East India, the bejewelled; and Manipur has preserved many jewels of the ancient culture of India. The people of Manipur had a unique tradition of worship through the ecstasy of dance. Since they believed that they were the descendants of celestial musicians, Gandharvas, they sought communion […]Read More
Benoy K Behl Do you know that the largest rock-cut reliefs of Lord Shiva are in Tripura? How many know that some of the earliest Buddhist Vajrayana depictions are found in a Pala period stupa in Tripura? Or that Tripura is one of the great centers of the worship of Durga? Tripura is a land […]Read More
Benoy K Behl In Indic thought, the final truth which is sought is formless, arupa or nirguna. According to the Chitrasutra, for seeing the eternal, eyes are to be closed in meditation. Thus, in the heart of the sacred space, is made a symbol of that which is beyond the forms of the world around us, the stupa or the […]Read More
Benoy K Behl In ancient Buddhist temples, Jaina and Ajivika edifices, the simplest form, the stupa, was placed in the heart of the sacred space. In Hindu temples, it was the linga, or symbol, the mark of the formless eternal (nirguna) that was made in the sanctum sanctorum. These took us closest to the truth […]Read More
Benoy K Behl Earlier this month you saw the rarely seen Parvati painting of the 7th cent. at Pannamalai. It gives me pleasure to bring to you a photograph of a vibrant painting of the end-10th cent., from the inner ambulatory of the Brhadiswara Temple, Thanjavur. Far beyond mere optical reality, the painter conveys the […]Read More